Spewing Fire
by TammyHybrid21
Summary: Waking up with spots on her back is fine, but been thrown headfirst into a situation that she has no clue how to deal with was not. To find herself she has to lose herself and hopefully work out along the way which side she's on, Pokéumans or Pokextinction. But there are many more enemies out there than just them. (Original concept belongs to pokemonmanic3595 on Deviantart)
1. Changes

**Spewing Fire: Changes**

"Life is just one of those things... nobody ever seems to get the meaning of it, you know what I mean, right Obi?" the brown haired teen absently spoke as she walked, one hand gripping the leash in a loose way. The dog trotting happily beside her gave a small bark of agreement as they kept walking down the footpath. "I still can't believe that this whole thing is supposedly normal!" the teen groaned as they continued around the corner. Her canine companion barely gave her a response instead happily continuing along their rout causing the teen to give a ghost smile towards the retreating canine.

Of course, the conversation that she was having with her pet wasn't even the weirdest moment of that Monday. Her morning, had not been going well at all, she'd awoken with an itch on her back, upon closer examination it had been proven that the faint spots from the Sunday just gone had darkened and become much more defined. Her hazel eyes darkened, a shadow flickering across her face as she stormed down the path, people quickly scrambling away to avoid her wrath even as Obi ran back to her heels and whined trying to work out where her anger was originating from. She sighed and gave a half smile to the canine before shaking her head, they were almost home.

Of course it looked like things were just going to get worse. In the driveway was a van, a very familiar van. Her eyes narrowed and the slightest snarl crossed her lips. "DHS..." she growled fists clenched at her sides even as she took a deep breath and desperately hoped that the pain in her chest wouldn't worsen, she really didn't want to suffer an attack at that point. Obi growled at her side as they walked past the van and to the front door. She opened it after taking several calming breaths and purposefully ignored the stranger in their house as she deposited her canine companion back in the yard behind their house.

She sighed as she unclipped the leash from Obi's collar and watched with laughter in her eyes as the canine immediately dashed across the yard happy to be released. She sighed though before wincing and raising one hand to her chest, the slightest feeling of static shock as her hand touched down. It was quickly gone though and she shook her head before taking several deep breaths to try and ease the pressure that she was feeling, it was still uncomfortable, but at least she could breath a little easier. As she finally felt ready to return inside she heard the sound of the van starting up and exiting the driveway, obviously DHS was finished speaking with her mother.

She sat down in one of the plastic chairs by the back door and waited. She could've easily gone inside, but she wasn't quite ready to face the news, DHS probably expected her to go to school, not that she didn't need to go. She winced as the phantom pain in her chest returned again, it was one of the many reasons that she wasn't at school at that moment. The pain that had no explanation, she shook her head and watched Obi happily trot around the yard before looking up when she heard the door open. It was her mother, the curly brown haired rather generously weighted lady waddled over to her with a considerate look.

She refused to meet her mother's blue eyes as her mother began to speak. "I know that it's not that easy for you, but you're expected to get an education of some sort..." she ignored the way her mother trailed off instead crossing her arms across her chest, ignoring the pain that sent through her shoulders and upper back and glaring to the side. "Please Tamara... there is no arguing about this. It's a requirement!" she rose her head and hazel met blue as she breathed deeply.

"I know Mum... but it's not fair... they know about this problem of mine, yet..." she trailed off before shaking her head "Why can't we do the whole Home Schooling thing, at least then I wouldn't..." she cut off as her chest tightened and it began to be difficult to finish. "I wouldn't have to worry about waking in pain..." she grit out her teeth clenched as the pain slowly began to ebb away leaving a burning feeling in her chest as she shook her head.

"I know, but life in general just isn't fair." her mother stated and she had to agree, although she definitely didn't like it. She sighed and slowly stood from the chair, a little bit wobbly as her legs suddenly felt incredibly weak but that quickly passed as she shook her head and turned to the back door. "Oh one more thing! Make sure that nobody sees those spots, they may be normal, but they'll draw some rather unwanted attention to you." she turned that information over in her mind for a while before she nodded opened the mesh back door and disappeared inside instinctively heading down towards her room to change from her casual clothing into the school uniform.

As she pulled on the magenta top she glanced up at the Pokémon poster on her bedroom wall above the bed. It was of the Hoenn region of Ash's Pokémon adventure, she hadn't actually watched that much of the Advance Series herself but when seeing the posted had fallen in love with it. She sighed and bowed her head, it wasn't really that important though, no matter how many times she had dreamt of been there alongside Ash and co, whether as a trainer or Pokémon it just wasn't real. Although often her instincts would scream at her that she was wrong, that Pokémon were real and she just didn't believe in it enough, she snorted at the thought as she finished getting dressed and her hazel eyes looked at the poster one last time, memorising the grins on their faces.

As she reached for the handle of her door she paused and her eyes were drawn to a particular object sitting on her desk. With a few moments of hesitation she took the shark tooth necklace and looped it over her head, it rested comfortably and familiarly over her chest. Somehow wearing the necklace also made her feel more complete she realised before shaking her head, she was slipping again, probably about to drift into another daydream. As fun as daydreaming was though, it wouldn't be very good form for her to allow herself to do so at that moment.

She sighed one last time, glancing around the room and with one last sigh she turned the knob and left the room. Wandering down the hall she amused herself with the thoughts of Pokémon that had recently been taking control of her life, especially since the release of Black and White 2. She was actually working on breeding a cyndaquil with the perfect move set, since she loved the breeding feature and cyndaquil was her fifth favourite Pokémon, although recently she'd been even more drawn to the fire type than usual and had no explanation for it at all. Shaking her head she realised that she was in the kitchen and her mother was observing her with an amused glint in her blue eyes.

"What?" she asked with a shrug and her mother simply shook her head. She needed to say goodbye to Obi for the day. "Here girl! Obi!" she called exiting into the yard and the small white and brown blur barrelled into her causing her to laugh happily before kneeling down to talk to the dog. "Okay, okay I get it, you're happy that I came to see you right!" she laughed before wincing as her chest tightened briefly.

[Of course I am! Hey you alright?] hearing actual words coming from her canine companion caused her to freeze and gape openly at the dog. [What? Oh wait! You understood me!] Obi seemed to grin her tail speeding up as it waved in the air behind the canine even as she stared. She was probably still asleep, yeah that was as good an explanation as any [Anyway... Tammy, do you think that you could fit me into your pack! I'll be able to help you! I promise!] the dog pleaded with her. Fully convinced that she was apparently still asleep she obediently opened up her school bag and the canine jumped in. [Don't close it fully! I still need to breath!] was the last thing she heard from the dog as she zipped it up and slipped it onto her back.

She quickly approached the back gate, or more likely the front gate since there were two, no three gates to the backyard. Well four if she counted the one that opened into the shed but that didn't really count she thought as the gate swung open with a painful screeching noise that grated on her sensitive ears. She shook her head as she pulled it closed after stepping through, still screeching like a dying animal or nails on a blackboard. She growled before opening the passenger side door to the seat in the front. "All ready to go now are we?" her mother asked amusement glittering behind her glasses. She rolled her eyes and her mother sighed before starting up the car and backing from the drive.

She mostly ignored her mother throughout the ride, preferring to stare out the window at all the fields that they passed on the way. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the glass mumbling to herself "I swear that if any of this is real... then I'd have to be a cyndaquil..." she missed the flash across her mother's face, of course that wasn't the only thing that she missed, while her eyes were closed. In the long grass that they had just driven past there had been the flash of purple and cream fur, even as naturally grey eyes followed the white vehicle.

Soon enough of course they were rolling up the asphalt rode to her school. As she pulled her bag out and stared at the campus she turned to wave bye to her mother. Only the car was already gone, taking off at a rather frantic pace. She stared with an open mouth as it disappeared before shaking her head, unable to formulate any explanation for what she'd just seen. She turned back to the school and slipping her bag once more on her back walked with her hands in her pants pockets towards the late window. As she signed for a late pass she thought that she could hear screaming, and tilted her head. As she gripped the pass in hand she turned, and found herself staring at a scene that wouldn't have been out of place in a comic or fairytale story.

In the distance across the oval she could see a rather familiar brown haired boy running, well more like hopping across the field. Poking from the back of his pants, was a fluffy cream tail. She stared with an open mouth as the boy jumped and ran screaming she could vaguely hear the words and understand them. "HOW DOES THIS EVEN WORK? I HAVE A TAIL! A TAIL!" It had to be her brother she realised recognising that voice anywhere even as he charged towards her. Realising that fact she jumped quickly to the side and stared as her ran past her and soon disappeared somewhere down the street. The places where he'd stepped had smoke wafting up from them to her surprise, leaving her thoughtful.

Or well as thoughtful as she allowed herself. "Yeah... I'm definitely still asleep..." she mumbled shaking her head as she absently made her way towards the English class room. As she reached the room a shuffling on her back reminded her that she still had her backpack on, not that she could really do that much about it at that point. She winced as she entered the room fully expecting to be reprimanded for bringing her bag to class, so it was a bit of a shock when she wasn't. Staring around the room she was surprised to note that it was much emptier than it was supposed to be, and staring at the front of the room, there was something different about the teacher.

Something was off, she immediately felt that as she sat down in her seat and watched the teacher flutter, literally flutter and breeze around the room. She pulled out her textbook and began to read the required passage, but kept more focus on the teacher, the stranger. It might have been the sunglasses, or the way that the teacher seemed to be projecting an aura of power but she really didn't like the feel of this teacher as they stood at the very front of the room, supposedly happy with what they had observed of the class. "Now Class! I am to be your substitute for the day, Miss Hudson." that voice instantly made her instincts scream danger, she sounded too much like Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter, and that was never good. "Now, I trust that you're all working on the essay of the film Harvey Krumpet right?"

She absently nodded her head as she pulled her workbook over to directly in front of her and read over the points of interest for her essay. Of course the slightest tickly feeling in her nose had her sniffing. She could feel a sneeze coming, she sniffed and her breathing became rather jerky as her body prepared itself. Only the sneeze never came and she relaxed ready to finish the sentence she'd been on.

Of course just as she touched pencil to paper the sneeze finally came. It was much like an explosion, in more ways than one. Along with the expelled air came a sudden burst of flame, it quickly set the desk alight and caused everyone in the room to stare wide-eyed at her. She sniffed one more and rubbed her nose before looking up slowly, Miss Hudson had a rather malicious smirk on her face, and everyone was staring at her. With a gulp and sheepish grin she stated the first thing that came to her mind;

"This isn't what it looks like..."


	2. Running

**Spewing Fire: Running**

From all the looks of complete and utter disbelief that she was receiving they obviously didn't believe her. She gave as wide a grin as she possibly could to the class in an attempt to calm them down, several people looked as though they were going to bolt, as for Miss Hudson. The teacher was really unnerving her with the way that the light reflected off their sunglasses and that rather evil smile that rested on Miss Hudson's face. She gulped licked her lips and decided to try again. "I mean seriously, it's not on fire." it was probably the fact that she had just blatantly lied to their faces that done it, but that one statement seemed to snap the class from their stupor.

Almost all of the students jumped to their feet, only a few remained seated as the rest all pointed at her. Some of them began to scream, a few burst into spontaneous laughter and many of them hurtled statements of shock, fear and awe at her. "Monster!"

"Freak!"

"She burnt the table!"

"Do you think that she'd burn my homework if I asked?" many such statements were hurtled her way, but most of them washed right over her head as she began to focus more on the teacher again. Miss Hudson had brought out an odd purple spray can, one that hit a cord in her. Her bully survival instincts intact from years and years of bullying had her on her feet in a flash ignoring the pain that shot through her body at the action. Her bag was quickly pulled onto her back and before anyone could do anything she was out of the room and dashing down the hall.

She ignored the people that poked their heads out of the other class rooms, she just knew that she really didn't want to be sprayed with whatever was in that can. Her pack swung on her back and she heard a yelp, obviously Obi wasn't enjoying the ride. The yelp caused a full moment of pause in her pursuers and she took complete advantage of it shooting through the cooking classrooms and to the open door to freedom and the yard. [Hey! I don't suppose that you could go just a little bit slower?] Obi asked as she hurtled down the steps and gave the canine a rather bumpy ride.

"Nope..." she stated rather matter of factly as she skidded around the corner of a building only to come to a stop as she faced one of her old bullies who blinked in shock at her. "I haven't got the time!" she growled at the boy before leaping over the railing of the steps and down towards the gym. Only to freeze and instantly backtrack as a swarm of students seemed to spill from the building, many of them holding that strange purple can, it was like someone had flipped a switch on the school. "Okay... I guess that means that this is a nightmare rather than a dream then..." she stated before turning and darting around her old bully who failed to grab the strap of her backpack by a few seconds.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as she ran down the steps towards the art and woodwork rooms and darted down. She crouched down where she stood and panted for a while. She'd managed to so far lose most of her pursuers, as she stood in the area behind the woodwork and art room. Technically it was an off limits area, but she'd been there before, mostly when frustrated or she needed a place of quiet. She sighed and wiped one arm across her forehead even as Obi managed to squirm and peek from her backpack.

[What do you think that was about?] the canine asked and she shrugged before peering around the building. For the most part it seemed that the crowd of pursuers had disbanded, they were gone from the school yard. She didn't trust appearances though and her instincts were still on high alert. [I smell safety that way!] Obi barked her nose pointing back the way they had just came. [I can also hear music... it promises safety] she actually felt the need to roll her eyes at the canine's comment but sighed. Obi did have a point, and she had always felt safer, much safer in the music room.

She ducked down and began to creep around, her back to the lockers so that she could see any danger as she headed towards the music room, which was beside the drama room. She was extremely lucky, it seemed that nobody was around to chase her and she smirked as she entered the music room. She grinned at the teacher and his student who were in the room before closing the door behind her. The boy, the other student shot her a dirty look before he sighed and raised his clarinet back up to continue playing.

She smiled and pulled a chair up casually resting in it and watching as the boy played, almost wishing that she had her instrument to play along for a few moments. Of course as she watched and listened she began to notice that there was something a little bit off about him.

She narrowed her eyes as she tried to pinpoint what it was that was off about the boy, it was the smallest bit of movement under his hat that finally caused her to catch on. Her jaw dropped and she stared at the boy, sure he was short, shorter than Richard now that she thought about it, which was supposed to be impossible since Richard had never grown taller than a 1st or 2nd grader. Of course now that she'd noticed the boys pointy ears, she paid attention to the fact that he was also covered in dark grey fur, except for his hands and face.

She blinked as he finally finished the piece and so was kind of caught off guard by the teachers slow clapping to the side. The man had his eyes closed and a serene smile spread across his face. This immediately had her on guard just in case, she'd read enough stories to know that things might not be as they seemed, and besides the dog-boy behind her already proved that. [Be aware of everything Tammy!] Obi whispered muzzle beside her ear almost causing her to jump just as the teacher opened his brown eyes and looked at both of his students judging them carefully.

"That was an excellent practice Daniel. You only missed a few notes." the teacher praised the dog-boy who gave a wolfish grin back. "I trust that you'll keep practising even once you finish transforming right?"

"Of course Mr B!" Daniel barked offering a salute to the man while she watched with wide eyes and Obi laughed from her backpack. "So why are you here Tammy? Did something happen?" Daniel asked and she tilted her head unsure how to answer. "Are you like me? Are you one of us?" Daniel asked his eyes lighting up in glee at the thought and she waved her hands in front of her and spoke fast.

"I have no idea what you mean? And why would I be anything like you... that's just weird I mean... I uh..." she ended up trailing off as both males burst into laughter. She growled her eyes narrowing at their laughter. "Could one of you explain what the hell is..." she was cut off by the sound of footsteps outside the door. Mr B grabbed both her and Daniel and rushed them out of the room. "Hey wait a second... what's going on?"

She never got an answer as both her and Daniel were shoved into the usually locked side music room. The door slammed shut behind them and she heard Mr B lock it, lock them in. She growled again and crossed her arms across her chest, ignoring the pain that was in it and her back, not to mention the growing headache that she was suffering from as well. She decided to ignore Daniel, she wasn't happy about sharing a room with him, and definitely wasn't happy with the way that he seemed to know what was going on but she was left clueless. Of course that wasn't even beginning to question why Mr B seemed to have an idea of what was going on, or why he'd shoved them into this room.

Sighing she pressed an ear to the door and attempted to listen in on whatever was going on. Of course that resulted in absolutely nothing, even as Obi also listened, ears flopped against the canine's head. [No clue... I can't hear through the wood.] the dog stated and she sighed before deciding to actually look around the room that they found themselves in. Across the room sat Daniel, who was quite happily sitting on his haunches and staring at a poster on the wall, a poster that had all the musical students on it. Some of them with circles around them and others scratched off.

She blinked seeing a photo of herself there playing the saxophone with a circle around it. Shaking her head she deemed it unimportant though and instead looked around the room at all the instruments stacked around or laid gently against the wall. Although these instruments were a little different, as though they weren't built for use by humans, but by something a little bit different. Curiosity piqued she walked over to one that she guessed was a modified saxophone. It was smaller, and the points that she remembered having to press down on where spread differently, almost as though it had been made for use by someone with no fingers.

She looked up from the instrument when she heard the door open. Mr B stood in the doorway with a smile on his face. She watched Mr B warily even as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him and knelt down by a closet that she had deemed rather unimportant earlier. "Now I suppose that I should give you a bit more of an explanation shouldn't I?" the man asked and she rolled her eyes.

"You think?" she asked sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Of course you should! I'm not really enjoying been out of the freaking loop here!" she declared causing Daniel to snort and laugh from his corner. That of course led to her giving him the evil eye before focusing once more on Mr B "now explain please!"

"First things first, you may know be as your teacher, but I am part of something much bigger than just what's happening here at the school." Mr B paused and she looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "You are as well. Also, much like Daniel You. Are. Not. Alone, not in the least. There are many, many others like you. My son Ryan been just one of them." She stared at the son comment, she'd never known that Mr B had a son, even as he bowed his head obviously remembering something. "Anyway, just because you're not alone, it doesn't mean that every Pokéuman that you meet is going to be a friend." Mr B's face darkened and she tilted her head nervously. "There is an organisation that goes after transformees like you two, they're known as Pokextinction. I don't really have all the information on any of this, but they are very dangerous, they'll try to use you and you mustn't let them catch you at all!" his tone clearly showed that was the end of it but she wasn't so sure that it was.

"And how can we trust you? What if you're one of them? And also another thing... how do you even know any of this?" she asked teeth bared even as her canine companion tried to alert her to something. A kind of sad smile flickered across the teacher's face before he stared at the floor.

"Because I lost Ryan to them..." he stated and she stared in shock. "I haven't seen the real him since that day, the duplicate is similar, but not quite exactly the same." Mr B stated before standing up and walking over to the closet. "Now, this is a secret passage out of the school, it will take you as far as the supermarket, after that you're on your own. Also, you may take that instrument if you wish. It might just come in handy." she nodded her head and slipped it into her backpack. As the closet opened she watched as Daniel quickly disappeared into the passage way and paused before entering herself.

"Can't you help us anymore than this?" she asked and Mr B gave an almost secretive smile.

"Not at this point, it would be risking my memory too much." he stated and her brow arched at the revelation. "And besides, most Pokéumans tend to distrust people like me, mostly in part because of Pokextinction, but there are other reasons. Of course know this, not everything is clear now is it Tammy?" he asked and she froze, gave him one last glance before she disappeared down the tunnel. Mr B rubbed his head before shaking it and closing the closet behind them. With a small sigh he walked away as she walked onwards into the darkness, suspicion swirling through her belly and head.

It took a lot of stumbling through the pitch black before she finally emerged from the tunnel, the light blinding her even as Obi trotted happily beside her and Daniel remained missing. She actually wanted to swear at the sky but was weary to just in case it drew unwanted attention to the two of them standing there. [So I guess this is the beginning of that adventure that you always wanted to go on then.] Obi cheerfully stated and she looked down at the canine a ghost smile flickering across her face.

"Yeah. I guess that it is." she stated even as they strolled down the street ignoring the many pedestrians around them. "Although, the whole been replaced by a doppelganger is going to suck... do you think that I've already been replaced, and what about Daniel, has he suffered the same fate?" she wondered quietly, avoiding the crowds as best she could. Obi tilted her head and thought on it for a few moments before a doggy grin spread on the canine's muzzle.

[Probably] Obi stated even as they left the bustle behind [Now what I think that we need to do is get further away from here, probably head back towards home you know, or at least that area, it's less likely to be as dangerous.] the dog stated and she admitted that Obi certainly had a point. [Oh another thing! You may want to hang onto that shark tooth of yours!] Obi stated and she looked down at the canine confused. The dog actually seemed to roll their eyes [I mean it! You'll want to hang onto it, it's literally soaked in spiritual energy, seriously it reeks of the stuff!] Obi explained as an attempt to clarify for her. She nodded her head even as their surroundings gave way to less of the hustle of the supermarket area and more fields. [Anyway the simple meaning is that it'll offer you more protection as we learn more about what's going on!] Obi finished rather lamely causing her to laugh.

"Yeah okay, so I'm been protected by a mystic shark tooth, awesome! I wonder if there is someone else been protected by a mythical toothbrush?" she joked to a deadpan stare from her companion. "Gee, can't take a joke now can you?" she asked crossing her arms as they continued down the road. She smiled even as she walked, maybe the future was uncertain and she'd been replaced by a clone. She could handle that, she'd survived this long with health problems, what was an entire change to her life-style, nothing not really. She smiled even as they walked in the vague direction of home, even as they had absolutely no idea what was awaiting back at home. "You know what... I don't think that I'd actually mind the change, nor whether I'll miss my old life-style." she mused causing her canine companion to roll their eyes.

She laughed, although that laughter quickly died and both of them simply continued down the road in silence. They actually stuck pretty close to the actual road, since she didn't actually trust herself to have a sense of direction if they lost sight of it. Even when it came to the cross sections along the way she kind of grew nervous, did she actually have any idea of where they were even going? She gulped as they approached the first one, she actually didn't know if she did or not. Of course she also noticed a figure in the nearby field. It was obvious that something more was going on here, and she was just about to run into trouble.

The figure was green and white, mostly humanoid and wearing a flowing dress. Of course what stuck most in her mind were the glowing angry red eyes. "Oh really..." she mumbled before slamming a hand to her face, it figured. She escaped from the original bad guys only to run into trouble with someone else. She glanced down at Obi and gave a small grin, she'd need to be quiet here, as quiet as she could be. Of course there was going to be a little problem with that, since Murphy's Law just had to kick in when they were almost past the extremely angered psychic Pokéuman.

A sudden shift went through her body, her shoes became several sizes too big for her feet. Since it was unexpected and rather abrupt she ended up yelping as she toppled over into the grass, her head slammed against the ground leaving her a bit dizzy. The Gardevoir was actually on top of her in seconds via teleportation and before she could sort out her head she was dangling in front of the enraged beyond sense Pokéuman. Unable to properly formulate a response she simply pulled a weak and extremely cheesy grin at the Pokéuman.

That was definitely the wrong thing to do. The psychic energy that surrounded her strengthened and pressed down on her, invading her mind and causing the pain from hitting the ground to intensify tenfold. She grit her teeth and her eyes closed even as her mind put up some weak but automatic defences against the invasion. Each of them were simply knocked aside causing the pain to worsen until the point that she let out a silent scream and her hands automatically rose to clutch her head and attempt to block out the pain. It probably would've gone on for much longer until she had nothing yet but something interrupted the attack and she abruptly met the ground again. She actually whimpered as pain spread through her entire body centering in her head and leaving her rather confused.

She whimpered and squirmed before managing to peer up through watery eyes. In front of her stood a nearly fully transformed dark grey furred canine. A poochyena in fact, the only thing left to actually form on the other Pokéuman was it's tail. She winced as more pain filled her head and closed her eyes, she vaguely heard sounds of them growling before the Gardevoir apparently left and she heard a sigh. Opening her eyes again she met the red and yellow eyes of the poochyena who seemed to be extremely worried about her. Although she couldn't really tell if she knew it or not. "Hey! You alright?" he asked and in that moment a brief reprise of clarity came to her, the poochyena's identity.

It was Daniel.


	3. Dreams & Voices

**Spewing Fire: Dreams and Voices**

Her head spun as she tried to focus on the poochyena. It was a lot harder than it should have been and the way nothing seemed to focus annoyed her. Although attempting to be annoyed simply made her head hurt more. It felt as though someone had driven a knife into her skull and was now slowly twisting it deeper. Her head wasn't even the only thing hurting though, the pain in her chest was back, and preventing her from maintaining focus on Daniel, also she had a sharp pain in her lower back.

Of course there were other things that she could wonder about as well, like why the grass seemed to look blue and the sky was green. Her head really hurt, vaguely she realised that Daniel was speaking to her, but the words simply sounded like gibberish to the ringing in her ears. _'Well isn't this interesting...' _the sudden voice made her groan and close her eyes. She really couldn't deal with anyone else at this point. Of course that was when her head cleared just enough to tell her that the voice wasn't external. _'Am I real now?' _the question made her question the whole situation.

"Come on! You weren't caught by the attack that long!" That was the clearest sentence that she'd heard from Daniel. She didn't even understand what he meant, probably because it was a bit out of context and her head still spun. Of course now there was also the problem of the extra voice that was speaking in her head. The voice was mostly yelling at her and complaining, also it kept mentioning something about been real and her been the fake, or something like that. She closed her eyes again and weakly shook her head.

She weakly attempted to push herself up across the ground, although she didn't even really remember hitting it. Her head really hurt, her chest hurt it was cold and she felt like vomiting. _'Get up lazy bones! It can't be that bad... Dog Breath is right, we weren't really subjected to that long a psychic blast!' _hearing the voice again caused her attention to slip and she ended up hitting the ground again. Her breath left her and she struggled for a few moments to catch her breath once more. Why was everything spinning so much, did life have to hurtle this type of problem at her right now? Vaguely she realised that Obi was missing, where was her favourite pet? _'Probably far away since you're so weak!' _that voice was becoming annoying.

Eventually she managed to struggle into a sitting position. Of course it didn't really help, considering the pain in her head was still there and her movements rather sluggish. Also her legs seemed to have halfway shrunk, making the position she was in more painful. She could focus on the pain, and the voice. She was aware of Daniel, but it was harder, much harder to focus on him and it made the pain intensify. She shook her head and tried to focus on what he was attempting to tell her, what he was attempting to say. It was almost impossible, she was rather distracted by everything else that had happened to her that day.

She groaned again and rubbed one hand against her head, her rather dark green hair falling across her face. It was strange, she didn't remember it been green before, it had always been brown to her previous knowledge. "Hey! Are you alright?" hearing Daniel's voice drew her out of her daze somewhat and she turned to the poochyena with confused hazel eyes. She paused for a moment before she nodded.

"I-I think so..." she stated, the words felt strange in her mouth though and it was hard to actually say them. She frowned and rubbed her head again taking note of exactly how much smaller her legs were proportionally to the rest of her body. "Where's Obi?" she wondered shaking her head to try and dispel the remaining dizziness, not that it really worked. Of course the question treated her to the sight of Daniel looking around in surprise before shrugging, which looked rather amusing when a canine done so.

Amused she attempted to smile, although it felt more like a grimace on her face. It probably looked just as bad as well if Daniel's wince was anything to go by. She sighed and looked off to the side, just beyond the horizon it was obvious that the sun was beginning to set, different colours were arcing across the green sky and giving the world an ever more surreal effect, that wasn't even counting the running child she could see in the sky been chased by what she thought was an eevee. She was really slipping, the multiple blows to her head and psychic assault had finally made her snap it seemed. Of course the fact that the sun was setting at only 16:30 also seemed off, maybe her mind was playing some weird tricks with her.

"Hey you know what the thing with your legs symbolise! Tomorrow you'll be much smaller, you'll be Pokémon sized!" Daniel's cheery voice caused her to involuntarily jump and she stared at the grinning boy with a single arched eyebrow. Picking up on her mood the boy shifted and coughed "Anyway... it'll probably be a bit difficult for you to walk... so I suppose that the next best thing is to simply get some sleep huh?" he offered and her lip quirked in a smile, he was certainly entertaining all things considered. She yawned though, her body agreeing with his idea. She lay down and stared at the fluffy clouds eyes half closed. Images of eevee, cyndaquil and many more Pokémon danced in her head as they finally shut, so she almost missed hearing Daniel's quiet. "Sleep well partner..."

* * *

_As soon as her eyes open she instantly knows that she's sleeping. Well more importantly she realises that she's dreaming, yet the pain in her head is still there, and everything seems angry at her. Shapes twist and loom at her as numerous colours, scents and noises assault her senses, it's surprising that list doesn't involve flavours as well. She shakes her head and tries desperately to make some sort of sense of what is happening to her._

_This is supposedly her subconscious she realises. So why is it such chaos? A sudden out of place noise catches her attention and she just barely manages to jump to the side to avoid a cream and green blur from bowling her over the edge of the plateau that her subconscious has shifted into. "Who are you?" she asks the blur as it stops short of the edge and faces her red eyes burning with hatred._

_The world shifts again and suddenly they're both standing in a forest, it seems that everything has calmed a bit and she tilts her head trying to understand. She observes the strange creature in her head, it looks a lot like a cyndaquil, the only thing different was the inverse colours. Green swapped with Cream and vice-versa. _"Who am I? WHO AM I?" _the question must have been insulting to the creature she realises as it charges her in a ball of flame. _"Why don't you tell me?" _it grins with fangs poking from it's mouth and she only just barely dodges the attack._

"_I have no idea... why would I know who you are?" she asks trying not to flinch as it crashes into a tree at alights it with a blaze that quickly spreads to the entire forest before it quickly shifts back into indistinguishable shapes and figures. "You seem to be a cyndaquil though... if you're curious about that..." she laughs nervously as it glares at her a snarl on it's muzzle? Face? She isn't sure what to call it._

"As if I didn't already know that!" _it rolls it's eyes before glaring at her once more. _"I want to know who I am! Whether I'm real, or false. Something tangible, or simply thought given form..." _it trails off and she stares wide-eyed at it. _"That doesn't matter though! I hate you! HATE YOU! You're the reason I'm here, in this madness, this inescapable place! You are! I hate that..." _it growls the last part lowly fire burning brightly on it's back. The fire's blue she notes, an extremely hot blue then. That hate is obviously not something to be taken lightly. _"So tell me then, Who. Am. I?" _it asks as it charges full speed ahead right at her._

_Without thinking she jumps, almost right over a cliff as the format changes once more into twisted mountains. She just barely manages to grasp the edge and simply hangs there panting before she looks up. The creature stands just above her, fiery eyes burning as it looks down at her. She gulps and gives a weak grin up at it. "Please... please tell me what you want?" she asks almost pleads with the creature as it frowns and tilts its head at her eyes closing. "Please..." she whimpers before it spits embers abruptly at her fingers._

_She screams as she falls the world twisting around her, even as it slowly fades away to be replaced by complete black as she wakes rather abruptly into the Real World._

* * *

When her eyes snapped open the first thing that she registered was that there was a bag of apples sitting on her belly. The second thing that she registered was that Obi was standing nearby, much bigger than she used to be. Now they were a similar size to one another, she blinked at the canine who tilted their head confused. Of course, since they were the same size as the dog leaned forwards probably to talk to her she yelped and half jumped back. Of course since she was a fair bit smaller than she had been she tripped over her own clothing and thus whacked Daniel across the back of his head causing the boy to be abruptly woken from whatever dream that he was having.

"What the heck was that for?" the poochyena asked her with a forlorn look. "I was just having one of the mega weirdest dreams..." he whined before noticing the dog. "Oh hey look who's back!" he stated a grin spread across his muzzle as he noted the apples "And she brought breakfast!" She stared at him before shaking her head.

"Yeah I guess that she did!" she smirked "Although I would've been happier if she didn't drop them on my belly to wake me up." she admitted before giving herself the once over. She was small, that was all that she could say, much smaller than the day before, she'd need some more fitting clothing now, her hair was still green, if anything it was darker than yesterday and the spots on her back seemed to be even more pronounced from what she could tell, with green fur growing around them as well. "Ah... could you perhaps look a different way Dan?" she asked rather self conscious as she anxiously pulled her pants up as high as she could in an attempt to cover herself.

The boy laughed in glee and she glared darkly at him her face going red and her eyes darkening to a deeper brown. "Seriously chill! It's not that bad, I mean come on. Soon you won't even need clothing, I know that I stopped needing it on the morning of the seventh day!" Daniel stated with a wink. It only made her more uncomfortable though and she hid her face behind her pants embarrassment spread across the pale skin that seemed slightly darker than usual.

She noticed that Obi was walking away again and almost felt like growling, but instead decided to simply ignore what the canine was doing in favour of finding out some more about Daniel. "So... what exactly were you dreaming about anyway?" she asked sitting down in her pants and pulling them up around her in a way similar to a blanket. The poochyena grinned and sat down across from her.

"Well that's an interesting question!" the boy stated and she glared at him again. "Anyway, it was kind of weird, I was talking with this Mightyena, it was saying something about me been a Chosen One or whatever... I didn't really listen, 'cause I didn't really care. Me chosen... as if!" Daniel laughed and ignored her stare. "I mean it's not even likely, it's probably something that all dream guardians and guides tell people to make them feel special, I mean really... me a Chosen One?"

"But what if it's telling the truth? What if you are a Chosen One Danny?" she asked and the male snorted. "Oh come on, in this world who knows, it could be true Dark!" she stated and he gave her a look before rolling his eyes.

"Seriously, no." Daniel stated before absently scratching one ear with his back paw. "Me been the Chosen One is as likely as the world actually ending any time soon!" he stated before grabbing his foot in his mouth to stop it from scratching, around it he spoke "Besider... eveth ith sohonth wuf the Chothen One, yub'd bef mrue loikely." it took her a few moments to translate but as soon as she did she laughed and shook her head.

"No, no... I may be more likely to be a Chosen One... but hey, that would be wish fulfilment... also you know, I'd never..." She was cut off when Daniel released his foot and glared at her.

"Really... have you seen your own record?" he asked and she rose one hand to respond only the boy quickly continued. "I mean seriously, you've been plagued with problems, everyone, and that's not an exaggeration, everyone knows you at school! If they've never met you they know of you via the grapevine!" she stared with wide hazel eyes that almost went blue as he spoke. "I mean it, also everyone remembers the time that you collapsed, not to mention well, those other times... If anything you should be the Chosen One, not me!" he rubbed the back of his head with one paw as she remained silent. "Of course, the final nail is well... you're you. Nobody I know has more of a reason to be a hero and help others than you. What with all the shit that you've been through!" he smirked and she growled her eyes darkening again.

Before anything more could happen though they were interrupted by Obi's reappearance, with a change of clothing for her. [So what do you think Hybrid?] the dog asked and she looked at Obi in curiosity. Her canine companion simply allowed a somewhat knowing look before grabbing Daniel by the scruff and dragging him complaining away. Now with a little more privacy she pulled on the much better fitting clothing that Obi had brought her, not that it felt much more comfortable, but it put her mind at ease.

In a sense though, she had to admit that Daniel had been right. Out of everyone in the world, she really did seem to be one of the more likely people to be a Chosen One. Of course just because that was true didn't mean that she had any right to think that she'd be the only person with a much higher chance of fitting the criteria for expected Chosen One. Hell she knew for a fact that there were people who had probably been to hell and back, had they ever been thanked, were they good, were they even heard sometimes. She shook her head and finished pulling on the clothing, she looked around the field before scrambling over to her backpack. It was going to be a bit hard to carry now, it was the same size as she was.

She shook her head and gave up on the pack. As she turned to call her companions back she froze, the voice was back. '_Hey! I wasn't finished earlier! Now come on answer me Hybrid! Answer me, Who. Am. I?' _it asked anger blazing behind the words as she heard them. She gulped and looked around, fearful that she might see that evil cyndaquil from her dream. Luckily it seemed that was impossible. _'I know that you can hear me! So tell me, who am I?' _the voice sent a chill down her spine, and she felt like curling up into a little ball.

'I have no idea who you are... as for been Hybrid... eh it fits.' she gave a mental shrug at the thought before she paused 'For some reason you sound more like my Tammy persona... well back when I was... umm, Roleplaying?' she seemed to have confused herself, although that wasn't really that surprising at this point.

_'I already called myself that! Now come on! Who. Am. I? Who am I really? Real or Fake? Please tell me... I know that you know... I can feel it!' _Tammy shouted in her head and she winced before rubbing her temple with her hands.

'B-but I really don't know who you are... I mean apart from the whole Tammy thing... nothing.' she mentally responded. The rage that instantly swamped her mind caused her to wince and duck her head down.

_'Impossible! Your emotions feelings, they pound me, hate me! Push me down and try to break me! Which means you're trying to do that! So you would have to know who I am in order for that to be possible!' _Tammy's response caused her to stare absently ahead to try and work out how that worked. _'You're the REASON! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT CAUSED THIS! My SuFErINg... It'S YoU'rE FaULt!' _the extremely emotional reaction that she could feel coming from Tammy led to her biting her lower lip suddenly rather unsure of herself and what she should think. _'Please... I may be the whole Superpowered-Evil-Side, but I do want to know who I am... just as much as anyone else...'_

Tammy finally fell silent and she looked around nervously 'I'm sorry... I still don't know what you mean...' she thought before she bowed her head. She heard a responding growl from Tammy before all was rather eerily silent. She looked around nervously before she finally called out. "Okay! I'm decent so you can come back now Poochy!" the response to that was rather amusing as the transformed poochyena tore back towards her with a glare on his face.

"Not cool! Stop making the embarrassing nicknames okay!" he declared and she smirked down at him. There were a few flowers stuck in his fur and she stared at them in amusement, when Daniel noticed he growled and shook them out. "Yeah, yeah, the bad boy plays in flower fields... very funny. You talk to animals and expect them to respond!"

"Hey! They do, it's not my fault that you've grown past the stage where you can hear what they're saying." she stated causing Daniel to look at her with a smug grin. "Oh I totally stepped into that one..." she groaned even as Obi bounded over to them and sat down by Hybrid's discarded bag. "But I swear, I'm not crazy or immature! As crazy as that sounds..."

Daniel laughed gleefully and she glared at him. "No seriously! Your entire family is crazy! What between you and your brother!" he smirked only for it to disappear as she went completely still and her pupils shrank in shock. "What?" Daniel asked even as she flashed back to the day before.

* * *

In the distance across the oval she could see a rather familiar brown haired boy running, well more like hopping across the field. Poking from the back of his pants, was a fluffy cream tail. She stared with an open mouth as the boy jumped and ran screaming she could vaguely hear the words and understand them. "HOW DOES THIS EVEN WORK? I HAVE A TAIL! A TAIL!" It had to be her brother she realised recognising that voice anywhere even as he charged towards her. Realising that fact she jumped quickly to the side and stared as her ran past her and soon disappeared somewhere down the street. The places where he'd stepped had smoke wafting up from them to her surprise, leaving her thoughtful.

* * *

The sudden gasp that she gave along with the complete look of horror that spread across her face caused Daniel to tense. She gave him a stricken look as Obi circled around her nervously. "We forgot completely about my brother!"


	4. Flames

**Spewing Fire: Flames**

Hybrid spent roughly the next twenty minutes running around like an idiot and scolding herself for forgetting her own brother. She shook her head desperately and growled kicked at the dirt and screamed at the sky. The whole time Obi and Daniel simply stood to the side and watched as she expressed her frustration and embarrassment at the situation before throwing herself down and sitting with her arms across her chest angrily.

"What the heck?" Daniel finally asked as she glared up at him before sighing and looking away. "I just want to know what the freaking hell that was about. I mean yeah you forgot your younger brother, but seriously... I never took you as the type to..."

"Freak out?" Hybrid offered and the black furred dog nodded his head. "Normally I wouldn't... I just guess that the stress of this situation has finally gotten to me..." she sighed and rubbed her head running her fingers through her hair. "I'm frustrated... I want to turn around and go look for him... but I know that by doing so we'll probably get hopelessly lost or even worse. Not to mention we are almost to my house..." she groaned and slapped one palm to her face and mumbled into it ignoring Obi as the canine sniffed the air cautiously.

[We should probably get moving, there is smoke in the air!] the dog stated causing her to look up and sniff the air herself while Daniel rolled his eyes. [Hybrid?]

"Right... Smoke... we should probably get moving, unless we want to be burnt or something..." Hybrid agreed as she clambered to her feet and stretched. "But first... how're we going to work out how to move my backpack... I do need to return it after all!" she stated rubbing one finger under her nose to think, a habit she started after getting really into the Sonic franchise.

They all stared at the bag. That was going to be a problem obviously. It was pretty much the same size as all three of them, actually it was possibly taller than them. Hybrid rubbed the back of her head unsure what to think, or how to move it. Daniel sniffed the air before he gave a shrug clueless. Obi simply sat off to the side and scratched with her back leg, she thought better when occupied. Of course since none of them really had any plans or idea of how to move it they just ended up standing around kind of awkwardly staring at the bag.

_'Oh for the love of...' _Hybrid looked around in shock when she heard Tammy's voice before she felt a sharp pain in the head and yelped. _"Let me solve this problem for you!" _the change in her voice startled Daniel who stared wide-eyed at her. Tammy ignored the poochyena and instead ran over to the bag and struggled to adjust the straps on it until it only really had a single strap witch she slung over her chest so that the bag sat on her back. _"There problem solved! At least until you run into another one you idiots!" _the girl stated with a rather smug grin on her face.

"You're not Hybrid..." Daniel stated backing away from the altered girl while Obi sniffed her before growling. "Who are you? What did you do to Hybrid?" he asked darkness gathering in a ball of shadows in front of him which he prepared to shoot at the intruder if needed.

"_Oh she's fine!" _Tammy stated waving one hand absently at the boy _"Or she should be... it's her head after all! Name's Tammy! Don't you dare forget it!" _she growled causing him to halt halfway through the attack and instead back away unsure what to think of her. She smirked and gave a small laugh amused by his reaction. She ended up yelping and jumping to the side though as Obi charged right at her. Tammy glared at the dog who growled right back at her even as she smirked and felt warmth spread throughout her body. _"Well then... let's play!" _she grinned before jumping up and pushing herself from the ground pushing the heat out through her hands and watching as it scorched the ground.

She smirked and leapt forwards even as the scorching spread further each step she took. Obi had to dodge to the side even as she swung a fist towards the canine laughing gleefully the whole time. She took a deep breath, and while there was a part of her that said that what she was trying was incredibly dangerous she ignored it and instead poured as much of the heat that she was feeling into her breath. Her reward was several embers flying out and burning the ground between her and Obi who just barely avoided the improvised attack.

She coughed her throat sore from the flames that she'd just breathed. Her body was not able to properly handle stuff like that and she growled upon the realisation. Obi took the chance and charged at her even as she quickly jumped to the side to avoid it, only to be flung to the side by Daniel who had tackled her with no prior warning. She growled even as she slammed into the ground and her eyes seemed to blaze with the flames that filled her body. Daniel and Obi stood across from her and she pushed herself off the ground and took several deep breaths, she was not going to just roll over and allow them to push her around.

She wasn't going to simply submit to them at all. 'STOP Please!' she froze hearing Hybrid's voice in her head and growled before she smirked. Ignoring any distractions she turned and ran the way that they had been headed in the first place. 'W-what are you doing! Tammy let me go!' Hybrid's desperate calls in her mind quite amused her as she fled through the fields and headed towards the small town that she knew would be waiting beyond. 'Tammy! Please...'

_'Aww shut up! I'm doing exactly what you originally wanted to you freaking pest... and I'm doing it with more style!' _she shot back at Hybrid even as she ran into the town and darted around a corner before skidding to a stop and crouching down to avoid been seen. _'Also I'm less likely to be seen by you idiot!' _she thought privately as she peered around to see if anyone was around. Vaguely she heard the sounds of Obi and Daniel coming up behind her but simply ignored it sure that the coast was clear. She darted from her hiding spot and across the shop front before entering the more residential area of the small town and simply running across the path aware of everything going on around her.

She enjoyed the feeling of the wind across her face as she bolted across a bridge on the opposite side of the road she'd just crossed and grew even closer to her target. She sighed and her eyes softened as she slowed and gazed up at the house that she knew Hybrid had once called home. 'Hey! Can you let me go yet?' she heard Hybrid ask and simply shook her head even as she walked past the car in the drive and towards the back gate. While it was difficult for her to open she managed fairly well and the only thing that actually interrupted her was the approach of Daniel and Obi from behind.

[You are seriously impulsive.] she heard the canine say and had only a brief moment to be surprised before Daniel slammed into her pushing her through the open gate and into the backyard. She slammed onto the ground and growled glaring at them both. [Let Hybrid go figment! You don't belong here!] Obi growled and she glared up at the canine and Daniel even as they both now stood over her.

"_No! I belong just as much as she does!" _she growled pushing herself up off the ground and trying incredibly hard not to wince at the pain in her body. _"I am just as real as she is!" _she growled even as her head began to swim and she realised that she was losing her grip on control. _"I am just as real... Just as Real!" _she mumbled dizzy even as darkness filled her vision and she was swept back into the deeper reaches of Hybrid's sub-conscious mind.

"Hybrid? Tammy?" Daniel asked as the body in front of both him and the canine beside him fell limp and met the ground. He looked around nervously before pulling her by the back of her top into the shed behind the building that they currently camped near. "Now what am I supposed to do?" he wondered before looking at the canine he accompanied. "I don't suppose that I'll suddenly be able to understand you huh?" he joked and of course when the dog barked, probably to reply he heard nothing that could be translated as words. "Well this sucks..." he mumbled looking at the unconscious girl beside him. "Wake up soon darnit!"

* * *

_Hybrid rubs her head annoyed as she once more finds herself in the shifting world. Beside her sits Tammy, who actually has a chain around her neck this time. Hybrid looks in confusion at the cyndaquil who simply turns up their nose at her and ignores her. "What happened?" she groans rubbing her head again before she stands up and stretches looking around the shifting scenery in confusion before noticing some vague images in the distance. "What's that?" she asks Tammy who glares at her before shrugging._

"How am I supposed to know, this is your head." _the figment states before curling up into a ball the chain rubbing again her neck. Hybrid glares at the chain even as Tammy seems to ignore it. _"Besides as soon as I was dragged back here this thing appeared around my neck..." _Tammy laments tugging on the chain that is fixed in the ground and around her neck._

_Hybrid winces feeling rather guilty about the chain even if she doesn't understand why. "Yeah, I suppose that would make it rather hard wouldn't it..." she trails off and stares at the images before looking at the figment beside her who simply snorts. "Okay... I get it, you hate me... but I still don't get why." she states and Tammy looks at her flames blazing behind red eyes._

"You'll never get it! And that's the problem! It doesn't even matter really does it... I'm nothing according to that dog of yours... Not real... not really alive. Just a figment." _the sadness in those words cause Hybrid to twitch and shift in place even as she wants to go and check out the images in the distance. _"It's all you're fault as well... You created me! You made me! But I'm not real... so why? Why?" _Tammy looks like she's going to cry and Hybrid flinches unsure of what to say even as the chain rattles and Tammy pulls against it._

_She ends up sighing and going over to Tammy standing just within reach of the Pokémon "Here... let me.."_

"NO!" _she jumps back as a burst of flame is suddenly hurtling towards her face. _"I don't need your help! Nor do I want it!" _Tammy snaps at her eyes wide open as they stare into her own hazel orbs. _"Just leave... I don't need you... and don't you dare claim to need me... I'll be fine." _the figment snaps even as she turns away. She hesitates and gives a final glance back at the chained figment before dashing towards the images in the distance._

_As she grows closer she feels a lot warmer, the heat isn't uncomfortable though, in fact it's actually rather welcome to her body. She smiles even as she sees that the images are of burning flames and smiling faces within. She looks around before she spots a flame with Daniel and Obi pictured within, other flames have other people and places, maybe they represent her memories. Really she doesn't care though as she moves through them and searches for the way out of the maze that makes up her own mind._

_She wanders lost through the flames until she ends up beyond them. Before she's able to fully realise what's happening she's falling, falling through her own head. She closes her eyes and desperately tries to grip onto something, anything. Her hands catch onto something and her eyes automatically open before she pulls herself up onto what seems to be a bed sticking out of a rock wall. She pants really tired before looking around unsure of where she could be. Below her a river of lava wound it's way across the odd landscape and above her flames flicker and dance on hills and even strange clouds._

_She shakes her head and desperately clambers up the rock wall before tumbling down an abrupt change in the scenery and landing in cool fresh water. With a gasp she bursts to the surface and stares as electricity sparks above her head. "Am I awake? Am I dreaming? How do I find the way to get out of here?" she wonders to herself as she pulls herself from the water before shaking off. Her hair sticking in spikes at the front no matter how much she attempts to tame it._

_She shakes her head eventually giving up on her hair and instead simply walking through the shifting landscape unable to think of anything better to do. It is that moment that she comes across the door and she has to stare at it in completely blank shock. Standing in the middle of nowhere is a door, a simple brown door with gold accents. She walks around it to make sure that it's real before taking a deep breath. It would be best to try at least she supposes as her hand rests on the handle._

_As the door opens a bright light spills out lighting up on Hybrid's face and giving her the distant impression of flames warming her body. She smiles even as the light spreads and flames are visible beyond the open door and spill out engulfing her. It doesn't hurt, in face it's actually rather comforting and she's soon drawn through the door. It slams shut behind her and she's once more falling, but this time up._

* * *

Hazel eyes snapped open causing Daniel to jump and back away from the stretching girl. She'd changed over the time that she'd been asleep, now she had cream fur spreading up her arms and her fingers were beginning to meld a bit. Her nose was tipped with green mixed with cream and she had cream around her eyes. "Welcome back..." The boy stated and she looked up at him with a dreamy smile.

"Good to be back." she stated before she stretched. "Any idea how long I was out?" she asked feeling rather stiff and it was hard to move her body properly.

"At least 24 hours..." Daniel responded and she stared wide-eyed at him and tried to calculate what that meant. She ended up shaking her head though before staring at her hands, nervous she ran them through her hair. "Hey don't worry... we returned the bag... even if it was slightly toasted." the boy joked and she stared blankly at him not understanding the joke. "Tammy kind of scorched it."

Hybrid gaped at the canine boy who gave a half shrug, or attempted shrug right back to her. That was when Obi trotted into the small room, which Hybrid vaguely realised was in the shed from out back her old house. [There is also another development that you might want to see...] the dog stated and her hazel eyes focused on a point behind Obi where another identical canine sat and watched them leaving her stunned.

"Wait... wait... what? Dude they cloned my Dog? Seriously?" she asked mouth wide open as her eyes flickered from one to the other and then back again. "Okay, well I suppose that actually isn't the strangest thing that's happened recently... but still... they freaking cloned my dog?" she asked throwing her arms up in confusion which caused Daniel to snicker behind her.

She shook her head and stared at the boy with a low level glare, not that it really counted as a glare because she also had the ghost of a smile on her face. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Hybrid burst into laughter and fell over backwards laughing. Daniel laughed along with her shaking his head and both Obis watched the scene with matching doggy grins.

For the moment everything was peaceful. Of course with smoke in the sky and storm clouds gathering in the distance, it surely wouldn't last too much longer. Hybrid closed her eyes and felt the wind stroke her face. "We could probably manage a few more days here... they wouldn't notice... but we'll have to be careful..." she mumbled and caused both Daniel and her Obi to look at her before nodding.

"Yeah. I suppose that we could, while we gather some supplies together and work out where to go next huh?" he asked and she nodded her head gazing up at the sky.

"Yeah, as we figure out where we're going to go next..." she sighed before closing her eyes, this time planning on actually having a more restful sleep even as Daniel yawned from beside her. Soon enough they all dropped peacefully into the land beyond the world of awareness.


	5. Illusions

**Spewing Fire: Illusions**

She spent the rest of that forth day sleeping and awoke while the moon was still high in the sky. Looking around the transforming teen found a smile spreading across her face. It was nice to be home, even if it wasn't really her home anymore. She slowly slid off the bed and waddled over to the door and out into the yard. She managed barely to not shiver as her bare feet crossed the moist grass and instead examined what she could see through the haze of the darkness of the night air.

There wasn't all that much in view, and as for her changes she noted that her nose had lengthened and was a little more pointy, her legs had changed form a bit, and it would be problematic to wear shoes. Not that she really felt the need to care at that point, it just proved that things were changing. She did however take in the night scene, it was rather wondrous, the light of the stars in the sky and the moon hanging overhead in the sky.

Her eyelids lowered in bliss as she sat down on the wooden step leading into the shed and stared up at the midnight sky. Eventually she closed her eyes completely and simply listened to the ambience around her. The wind gently stroked her face and cheekily tousled her hair even as she took several measured breaths her body loosening as she allowed her mind to drift.

The way things had changed in just the past few days had left her little time to actually think things through or really adjust to what was happening. Apparently it was normal for the world around her, people transforming into Pokéumans, which sounded a lot like that group on Deviantart that she'd seen a while ago. So that meant that she was becoming a Pokémon, great. She slowly opened her eyes and watched the sky, mist covered stars as they winked down at her.

If this was all real though, why hadn't more people caught on, was it because of the way that the group was set up? The way that it seriously felt fictional? She closed her eyes again and focused on her breathing. On her own body, surprised that she hadn't felt any pain since the second day of her transformation. Instead she could feel a kind of energy jumping through her body, it was uncontrolled and unfocused. Her eyes opened again and she simply stared unfocused at the sky. She also felt warm, the air around her shockingly cold compared to the temperature of her body. It was rather perplexing really, not that she wasn't aware that it should have been cold anyway.

Eventually she ended up giving up, she would worry about the problem later. She slowly stood up and walked back into the shed, absently fiddling with the shark tooth that remained hanging around her neck. Once she entered back into the small and rather drafty bedroom at the back of the shed she struggled to pull herself up onto the bed. Rolling her eyes she growled before jumping up and rolling slamming into Obi who merely grunted and shifted position, probably used to similar things happening from the way Daniel's legs were kicking out in his sleep as he rolled in the blankets and messed the bed up even more.

She giggled and slumped down into the doggy pile, before she closed her eyes to attempt to get a little more sleep and hopefully wake up when it was actually daytime she gazed out of the window and at the sky one last time. A smile spread across her face and her eyes slipped shut as she allowed her mind to relax and hopefully drift into sleep.

* * *

Most of the actual fifth day was spent sleeping, her body changing as she slept while Daniel and Obi made sure that any hints of suspicion weren't followed up by her clone, by hiding within the dusty cupboards and allowing the perception filter to kick in. The few times that she did wake were extremely brief and mostly spent grabbing a quick bite to eat or shifting position slightly before quickly drifting back off.

* * *

She woke very briefly for the sixth day, her belly rumbling in hunger even as the changes remained rather obvious to view. She had green all over her back now, and dark red patches, otherwise she had cream on her underbelly, feet and hands, although the tips of her feet seemed to be slowly lightening to a more milky white. Her nose/muzzle was also lengthening and she noted that her arms had yet to finish whatever final change that they needed to make.

'Not that long 'til I'll be finished transforming huh?' she mused crunching on an apple and watching Obi and Daniel run around the shed happily. She was glad that her other self hadn't appeared recently, and that Obi2 seemed to be quite at ease with simply allowing them to exist in the area. 'Of course, that will mean that we'll have to leave soon...' she thought dropping the apple core and yawning. She held no illusion to what was going to happen as soon as she'd finished transforming, they held no place here.

She stretched and yawned again before she shook her head and pushed the cupboard door open and waddling out to have a brief bout of fresh air. She laughed lightly as both Daniel and Obi looked over at her before she sighed and sat down, her canine companion quickly joining her. [So how's the nap been going?] Obi asked and she frowned.

"Just fine, considering I'm having trouble loosening up. At least a little bit anyway!" she stated wiggling her feet as she considered what their options would be once they had to leave. "Of course once we've finished here I haven't got any idea where to go next, you have any ideas Obi?" she questioned and the canine seemed to ponder the question for a few moments.

[Forest, the woods...] Obi stated even as Daniel trotted over to them, a bone shaped doggy toy in his mouth. [People are less likely to spot us there.] Obi explained. Daniel chose that moment to slump down beside both of them happily chewing on the toy that made a loud squeak and caused Hybrid to stare rather blankly at him.

"What?" he asked dropping the toy and she blinked before shaking her head. Eventually the poochyena boy simply went back to chewing on the toy and she yawned again before rubbing her eyes. "Maybe you should go back to sleeping, just sleep off the remainder of your changes... it's funny but the transformation does tend to take a lot out of you!" Daniel stated with a doggy shrug. She stared at him and he shrugged "Hey, just because I walked around dead on my feet for a week doesn't mean that you would have had to."

"Idiot..." she mumbled as she waddled back into the cupboard and curled up into a ball amused by his antics. She yawned once more before closing her eyes and quickly drifting back into the darkness of her sub-conscious mind.

* * *

_Once more she finds herself in the ever shifting, ever changing landscape of her sub-conscious mind. Only a little distance away from her sits Tammy, the Pokémon's cream back facing her as they glare into a pool of water. "Hey..." she states walking over to the figment who instantly glares up at her. "Aww come on! We're kind of in this together if you actually think about it!" she states arms out in front of her in exasperation even as the chained Pokémon snorts._

"Yeah sure, believe that if you want to" _Tammy states and she sighs before sitting down beside the figment unsure of what to say even as blue grass and flowers grow and spread around the two with a red-orange sky flowing over them. _"You know nothing! In this together! I'm not even really real am I?" _Tammy asks spitting a few embers onto the grass around them._

_Hybrid shrugs. "I don't know, maybe you are, and then again, maybe you're not. But what seems to matter to me is that you have a personality of your own, a dream as well... And well, we're separate enough to interact with one another." she sighs and hugs herself hazel eyes refusing to meet Tammy's red ones "Which means that real or not, you're a person to. Of a kind at least, So in a way, we're stuck in this together!" fingering the shark tooth around her neck she slowly stands up and stares at the sky which is now on fire with a series of faces been pulled over their heads._

"Yeah whatever. Keep on dreaming, that's all you seem to be good at after all!" _Tammy's comment causes Hybrid to instantly snap around and stare with wide eyes at the Pokémon. _"What, your memories are all here, I just had a look around! Also seriously you daydream, not to mention the dreams you've been having while sleeping off the transformation Dreamer." _the cyndaquil sniffs and raises her nose in the air before looking around the shifting scape warily. _"Something is wrong..." _the figment quickly spins around and she jumps to her feet and looks around herself to see if she could spot what had set off her companion._

"_There's nothing here..." she freezes though and shivers, a chill sweeps through the air and suddenly she doesn't want to be in the area. The shifting stops and patches of ice begin to spread across the scape. "What's going on?" panicking she frantically looks around trying desperately to work out what's going on even as Tammy growls from where the figment is chained beside her. A flash of lightning sweeps across the sky of the scape and a ringing fills the air as she begins to shake her head, heat filling her body trying to fight off the chill. "This isn't right..." she mumbles shivers shaking her body even as Tammy's growls begin to falter and ice creeps up the chains keeping her in place._

_Tammy struggles against the chains as Hybrid watches with wide terror filled eyes backing away desperately from the glittering ice. _"Sheesh, you're a fire element aren't you! Heat things UP!" _She shouts at the idiotic persona who blinks as though they hadn't realised that._

"_Right!" Hybrid states and flames shift around her melting the ice gathering around the persona. She rolls her eyes as Hybrid begins to grin before shooting several embers at the chains keeping her in place. "As I said earlier! You're just as real as me!" the persona shouts before dashing off leaving her to ponder what the heck Hybrid thinks of the entire situation._

"She's a strange one, for sure..." _she states before turning around to face the creeping ice and hurtling flames directly towards it. _"Begone Demons!" _she shouts as more embers blaze on the ground of the scape around her and electricity flickers in the air around her creating a kind of buzz effect. _"Doubt does not survive here!" _she growls as a cyndaquil formed of ice becomes visible standing in the scape, creeping ice spreading around it._

_Tammy growls flames flaring on her back even as Hybrid slowly joins her and stares out at the ice cyndaquil. Hybrid looks at the figment who ignores her in favour of charging headlong towards the icy abomination on the plane. She notes that the ice has stopped creeping in favour of spiking up to defend the intrusion and almost impales Tammy several times but the figment simply jumps around the ice spikes or blasts through them using ember._

_Hybrid blinks before charging forwards herself tackling the ice and desperately trying to avoid slipping on the surface. 'There has to be an easier way to deal with this... How many figments does my mind have, inner demons... INNER DEMONS! That's it!' she skids along the surface of the plane as she overshoots the ice cyndaquil and takes several deep breaths and grins smugly to herself. 'A challenge on my own perception! Who am I? I have no reason to doubt myself at this point, and the icy grip of doubt... this proves it!' taking a deep breath she feels the heat flowing through her body and fires it towards the ice figment that dodges to the side-right into the path of Tammy's ember attack._

"Why did you do that?" _the figment turns to Hybrid ignoring the melting ice cyndaquil and glaring instead at the persona. Hybrid shrugs before shooting one last ember at the ice representation of doubt. She blinks hazel eyes meeting red and gives a grin. _"I really don't get you! I hate you! Yet... you just helped me to drive out the representation of doubt... and how?"

"_We're two sides of a coin! You Tammy, you're the darkness to the light, the killer to my healer! We compliment one another! It's why you exist in a more complete form compared to what that was..." she motions towards the puddle that once took the form of an icy foe. "And I won't destroy you... because somehow... I know that I'm going to need you!" with that Hybrid is finally able to fade out of the scape leaving Tammy with a lot of things to ponder._

* * *

Hybrid yawned and stretched as she awoke and stared up at the starry sky. That was when her mind froze, the starry sky? Weren't they last in the shed or something. Sitting up she frantically searched the area for anything to tell her where she was. There was absolutely nothing that could even give her a hint, she was in the middle of a burnt out field, a few embers were even still glinting near her. "What the hell?" she asked her mind pulled to a screeching stop as she took in the devastation. "Well, I certainly didn't see this coming, I hope that this is a dream sequence, because seriously..." she was cut off by the sound of footsteps.

Spinning around she faced Obi, who was perfectly unharmed and wearing a carry bag. [Oh good, you're actually awake now, and not playing out some dream sequence fight thing...] the canine seemed amused while her eyes widened even more, if that was possible.

"I done this... While I was asleep?" she gazed once more around at the destruction a newer horror filling her eyes, especially when one extra little fact finally screamed itself in her mind. "Wait... where's Daniel? Also our..."

[The house is fine! Considering we were picked up by a member of a group... they were flying us to 'safety' when you suffered your attack. So they kind of ended up dropping us. I don't know where Daniel ended up though, or where we are relevant to Churchill, Yinnar or Boolarra.] the canine stated scratching an itch behind one ear as they filled her in on the current event. [I'm pretty sure that he'll be fine though, although been separate may cause some problems later on, but who knows!] the canine shrugged before sniffing the smoke filled air. [Now I suppose that we should get out of here before the fire department arrives don't you?]

"Yeah, I suppose so..." Hybrid agreed with a gulp. 'Hey Tammy, what're your thoughts on...'

_'What the hell? How did we do that much damage, I mean we weren't even consciously fighting, we'll probably have to watch that next time we run into a more problematic figment.' _Tammy's response done nothing to reassure her of the safety of those around her. _'It's all that psychic's fault, if anything none of this would be happening if they hadn't mind-raped you. Speaking of which, are you aware that the scape is split down the middle?'_

'What? How is that possible? Do you mean half is linked to my sub-conscious and half is more yours? Well at least it will confuse any outside invaders...' she joked weakly in her mind even as she followed after Obi who was moving rather fast for a small dog the age that she was. 'Although I guess that proves my coin analogy!'

_'Yeah whatever... two sides... I can't check your side for invasive figments... only mine, only when dreaming do our scapes ever interact. Which means you're right. We're going to need to work together.' _with that Tammy cut the connection leaving Hybrid's mind spinning. It seemed that her life had gone from normal, to abnormal to flat out twilight-zone in barely a week and all because she had to have some of the worst luck on Earth and managed to piss off a psychic element Pokémon at the precisely wrong time.

Of course the fact that she was now lost with no sense of direction and not even a sign to orientate herself simply took the cake. She couldn't even talk with Daniel or bug him to pass the time as she walked silently behind Obi. The canine had shot her down the several times she'd tried to make a joke or begin a conversation and soon enough she found herself falling into the simple pitfall of boredom. She decided that she hated travelling at that point, or at least travelling in complete silence, it was absolute torture and should be banned.

Of course that was only her opinion, several times she'd tried to contact Tammy who had shot her down each time, sometimes commenting on how the figment was attempting to shift their part of the scape into something more controlled so that they could feel comfortable. That was an idea that she could honestly get behind, but it left her to stew in her boredom even as she walked through the grass and followed after her pet and partner Obi.

"This is boring..." she whined eventually giving up on silence completely "My feet hurt, I need to go and my tummy hurts..." she grumbled kicking some pebbles from in front of her all the while been ignored by her companion. "Can we please stop for a while, I mean come on, surly we're out of danger, you know. It's not like we're going to be caught just for stopping for a small break is it?" she crossed her arms as she continued to follow Obi who finally stopped causing her to walk right into the canine's back leg.

[Hybrid, there is a time and a place for complaining! I don't think that the middle of a field while lost is such a time...] the canine explained while she glared up at the traitorous hound. [Oh stop that! Now come on, I think that I smell civilisation that way!] with an incline of the head Obi was off and Hybrid sighed and trailed after the canine complaints kept silent as she walked arms crossed and shoulders haunched after the canid.

As soon as she spotted the glow of the lights of civilisation though her eyes lit up in excitement and she dashed ahead of the canine. She of course slowed down as she grew closer to the town and crept around the buildings wary of the fact that danger could be anywhere, and come from anyone. She was still excited to be in civilisation though, of course there were several things especially prominent in her mind, the first been locating a toilet and the second been food. 'I wonder if there is a KFC nearby? Or Maccas? They generally have both...' she thought to herself as she peered around a corner Obi right behind her.

Of course things would never run smoothly for her. She came snout to nose with a small purple furred and grey eyed rat. Really why couldn't things ever be simple?


End file.
